Teesside's Mike Hind sets off on 24 day charity walk to Windsor ahead of collecting MBE
Video report by ITV Tyne Tees' Kris Jepson
The Teesside personal trainer, who coached Dibsy in his weight loss challenge, is embarking on what he describes as his "biggest challenge" yet, as he attempts to walk 250 miles from Teesside to Windsor ahead of collecting his MBE.
Mike Hind has been awarded the honour, which he will collect at Windsor Castle in February, for his charity fundraising and support of families during the Covid pandemic lockdowns.
It will take him 24 days, 250 miles and half a million steps to reach his destination.
He told ITV News Tyne Tees: "I felt it a bit unjustified if I turned up to Windsor in a car, stopped in a nice hotel, put on my suit, and went and took all the glory, because the glory wasn’t about me.
"The glory was a host of people from around the world coming together. I thought I want to do something to show my gratitude, to show how appreciative I am, so I thought I wonder how long it will take to walk to Windsor. This is going to be the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my life.
"When I took Dibsy during his challenge, we climbed Ben Nevis, we done the Great North Run. The Great North Run was half a marathon. I’ve got to do that almost every day for 24 days."
During the lockdowns he delivered food hampers to families and vulnerable people in Teesside.
He said: "We went round with toilet roll, bread, milk, just very basic supplies, but as times went on, the reason that people started suffering a little bit more, so it wasn’t just bread and milk. It was basic essentials as food, just a meal for the kids and family."
And one man he met on the doorstep was a veteran. Upon this meeting, he said it inspired him to raise £25,000 for the armed forces charity SSAFA by completing this walk.
He said: "He brought his war medals to the door and started telling me stories and I thought how have you spent your life, giving us the life that we’ve got today, for your Queen and country, yet in the darkest of times or uncertainty, you haven’t had that support network?"